am i doing something wrong? (slow syncing of Apple TV)

[lgwtdc]

I just got my TV today and am trying to sync certin files to it, i got how to do that figured out (at least i think) but it seemed to be taking forever, so i decided to do a test, i set it up to sync a 1.2 gig movie file, this file has now been synching for almost an hour and is not even a 1/4 of the way done. Am I doing something wrong or am i literally going to have to spend days getting my TV set up?

 

[ankushpatel]

cant be playing things

are you playing music or watching movies on the apple tv while this is transfering, b/c i dont think it will tranfer when the apple tv is already playing something, the transfering usually pauses until you are finished with what you are doing.

 

[lgwtdc]

no i wasnt, it was taking forever to actually transfer the file so i decided to see how long streaming would take to load and it was very fast so i may just do that, though it hiccups every now and then

 

[Doctor Q]

You should be able to track the progress of the download either in iTunes on the computer or by going to the Sources section of the Apple TV menu system (while watching the TV).

I assume you are already doing one of those things since you know how much of the download is done.

The slow transfers could be the result of activity on the computer or Apple TV (as ankushpatel pointed out) but it may be even more likely that this is a sign of a slow network connection.

Are you using a wired or wireless connection? Can you try the other type?

Remember that bandwidth is determined by the weakest (slowest) link in the chain from your computer to your Apple TV, through whatever networking devices you are using.

 

[KershMan]

What type of network are you running (b/g/n)? How far is the base station from the AppleTV? Do you have conflicting devices (Microwaves, cordless phones, other networks)?

One good thing to do is download iStumbler or similar to find all the networks in your area and look for channel conflicts. You will want to pick a channel no other networks are on. You may also want to play around with your multicast rate.

 

[lgwtdc]

im not really sure what all that means, i am running the apple tv, wired through my wireless router which is a G. i will look up istumbler, so i take it this is not a common occurence then and my network is running very slowly?

 

[Doctor Q]

For security and reliability, extra data is transmitted on a wireless network, and that reduces the data rate from the theoretical maximum of 54 Mbps (for 802.11g) to some lower rate. Unless conditions are ideal, you may get noticably less than 54 Mbps, maybe only half that rate.

Still, I'd expect your 1.2GB file transfer to take 10 minutes, not 4 hours, so something does appear to be wrong.

If it always takes that long to sync your movies, I'm sure it won't feel very convenient to you.

 

[nathansmith]

Use Ethernet to do big syncs

Apple tells you how to do this here:

http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=305254